The Bleed
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: Fan request. A mistake in the compound has Ariadne accidentally invading the private thoughts and memories of her team.
1. Chapter 1

**Fan request. A mistake in the compound has Ariadne accidentally invading the private thoughts and memories of her team. **

**The Bleed**

1.

~ '_I'm lost._' Ariadne thought as she wondered why the dream had turned so strange. She looked around the nameless, generic hallways and wondered where she was. This was not the dream she had designed and she wondered where her team was.

Normally, she had no trouble finding her team down in the depths of the dream. She always arrived where she was supposed to and Arthur, Cobb and Eames would quickly find her or she them.

Now... what was this place?

She slipped down the darkening hallways as strange sounds emanated from haunted corners.

~ "Ariadne?" Arthur was shaking her awake.

The Architect cried out as she felt the claws of that dark dream loosen; and she was released back into the waking world. She opened her eyes and realized the fear had followed her out. Her heart was beating wildly and she couldn't shake the feelings and images she had seen as she tried to breath normally again. Her body shaking from all she had seen and couldn't forget.  
"Ariadne?" Arthur was asking her gently. His hands on her arms as he made her look at him. "Hey. It's alright. You're alright now." He told her.

She stared at the Point Man for a long time before she remembered where she was. She was in the workshop, laying on one of the lawn chairs. She had been teaching the team member a maze she had designed when the strange thing happened. Now, she looked at the Point Man for clues that he was real. Not more trickery from the darkness.

"Arthur?" She whispered. She could feel tears stinging her eyes. "It that really you?" She asked.

Arthur sighed and nodded.  
"Check your totem." He told her as Cobb and Eames were in the room. The Point Man in him seeming professional and almost curt in front of the others.

She glanced over at the Extractor. Cobb looked fine. His face wasn't clouded with fear like hers was. Eames glanced up at her, looking confused. They were both in the lawn chairs with the white cords from the PASIV still attached.

She fumbled a hand into her pocket and felt the unusually light weight of her bishop. Her thumb rolling over the scoring she had put on it to make it so unique.  
"Yuseff, what happened?" Arthur barked at the Chemist.  
"I don't know!" Yuseff exclaimed nervously.

"We couldn't find her!" The Point Man said gruffly.

"Ariadne? Are you alright?" Cobb asked. The Extractor's hand going to her arm in an attempt to comfort her.

The Architect flinched away at the threat of him touching her. Her breathing still labored from the dream and all the horrors that she had seen there.

"Ariadne?" Arthur was back. The Point Man kneeling in front of her as she tried to convince herself she was safe and in the real world.

"You're awake. You're alright." Arthur said making her hand clasp his own.

"I know!" Ariadne started to cry. She couldn't help it. She had to get away.

She was around men she normally felt very safe with. Now, she knew things about them. She knew all their secrets, and she was terrified.

"I have to go." She stammered as she brushed off Arthur's hands and stood. She almost tripped as she grabbed her red jacket and raced out the door.

Arthur and Cobb trying to call her back.

~ It was raining in Paris that day. Not a cold rain, but the air was clean and a faint hint of the seasons changing flowed through the streets.

Ariadne tried to ignore the rain falling on her as most of the people in the streets walked with umbrellas.

"Ariadne!" Came Arthur's voice.

She turned and saw the Point Man drive beside her in the Teams car. A black, luxury thing that was impressive yet forgettable. She was g;ad Arthur had come alone. She didn't want to see Cobb right now.  
"Ariadne! Get in the car!" He barked as the rain started to fall heavier on her.

The Architect looked up and down the street. She could always duck into a shop and wait the storm out, but Arthur had pulled the car up to the curb and was wanting her to get in.

~ "What happened?" The Point Man asked once a dripping wet Architect was safely cloistered in the cabin of the car.

He felt his face tighten at the idea of the leather seats getting wet, but he ignored it.

"Nothing." Ariadne whispered.

She still looked upset as he drove her home.

"You need to tell me. We lost you on the first level. Couldn't find you at all. Where were you?" He asked. He was starting to feel a little panicked.  
"Nothing happened." She looked like she might cry again. "Nothing's wrong."

"Ariadne." Arthur said. His voice becoming calmer. Something had happened in the dream and she wasn't telling him.

"Just take me home." She said abruptly.  
"Did you check your totem? You're out now. You're safe." Arthur told her. It was the only comforting words he knew to tell her.

"I know that." Ariadne said looking out the window.  
"Tell me what happened. Cobb's really worried." Arthur said.  
"Cobb's worried. Are _you _worried?" The Architect accused.

Arthur glanced at her.

"Of course I'm worried." he said. He felt slightly insulted. They had both agreed to keep their feelings for one another to themselves. They didn't show affection in front of the team. Arthur thought it was unprofessional.  
"I just want to go." Ariadne said shaking her head.  
"Alright. We'll go home." Arthur conceded.

~ The Point Man drove her to the trendy district when Ariadne lived. He loved her loft style apartment. Loved how it was filled with color and feminine things and smells. Loved how comfortable and open it was. His own living space was barren and modern, but her's felt like a home.

"Do you want me to stay?" Arthur asked as she grabbed her kettle off the stove and put some water on to boil.

"No." She told him bluntly. She was pulling off her red jacket and smoothing out her wet hair.

"Please, go put some dry clothes on, before you catch cold." Arthur told her. He could just see her in bed and sick from running out in a fall rain for no reason.

She nodded and retreated to her tiny bedroom. A sheer curtain partition separating her bedroom space and he caught small glimpses of her changing. The Point Man stood in her living room and watched the rain beat down outside. His back to her bedroom to give her move privacy.

"How well do you know Cobb?" Ariadne suddenly called out as he was preparing to leave.

"Pretty well. Why?" Arthur asked.  
"No reason." Ariadne said as she dressed. "How well did you know Mal? Did they get along well?"

"Like something out a fairy tale. They were very much in love." Arthur told her. "Why do you ask?"

"Arthur, are you sure Cobb didn't kill Mal?" Ariadne asked.

"Yes. He loved her more then anything." Arthur said turning back to her. She was dressed in simple lounge clothes.

"Arthur, I trust you. I trust you more then anyone else. I lost myself in the dream." Ariadne whispered. "I found myself in Cobb's memories. I saw him murder his wife."


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ Arthur blinked. What the Architect had said was so unreal, he had to stop for a moment to think.

"Ariadne." He sighed. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"I couldn't find you or Eames." Ariadne said wringing her hands. The Architect turning away from the Point Man. "I was lost. I... I was in this hallway."

"Ariadne, it was just your imagination running away with you." Arthur said soothingly.

"Arthur! Don't talk to me like I'm a child!" She shouted. Her eyes were wild with an anger he wasn't used to seeing.

"I'm sorry." The Point Man said trying to be the calm one. "I just think you might have seen things that weren't true. Maybe it was your own projection of Cobb."

"Arthur, I heard shouting and I opened this door. Cobb was shouting at Mal. He was accusing her of having an affair. She admitted it. She was saying she was going to take the children. He pushed her out the window. He killed her." Ariadne explained.

She had to close her eyes at the memory of the once kind Extractor hurting the beautiful lady that was his wife.

Arthur was shaking his head.

"I always believed Cobb when he said Mal killed herself. I just... never could have imagined him doing this." Ariadne said. Her eyes filling up with tears again.

"Ariadne, we need to go see Yuseff, it must have been a mistake with the compound." The Point Man tried to explain.

"Cobb's wasn't the only memory I went into." Ariadne cried. "I know you don't believe me. I can tell you your memories. How you fantasize about me. About me having sex with other women. About you tying me up."

The Point Man stepped back. He was too shocked to argue. Mainly because all of what she just said was true.  
"Course that's nothing to what Eames fantasizes about me." Ariadne admitted with a shrug.  
"Ariadne. I would never..." The Point Man started to say but his words became lost under the weight of embarrassment.

"I know." Ariadne said. "Arthur, I didn't imagine that. I didn't imagine when you were 16, you got into a fight defending a chubby girl you went to school with. You got beaten up because you stuck up for her. I didn't make up the fact you cheated on an AP chem test at West Point because you were failing. How could I know these things? You never told anyone about that."

Arthur looked back at her. His eyes wide in surprise.

"How could I know Eames worked for the British Special Forces? That Eames isn't even his real name, he was so deep under cover, he had to change his identity to a man named Eames, and fake his own death. That's why he can never go back to England. Only you and Cobb know that." Ariadne said. "Only you and Cobb know that, because you were trained in counter intelligence, and you helped him disappear."

"Ariadne." Arthur said. He put a hand to his eyes and counted to ten.

"Arthur, I'm scared. I'm working with a man who killed his wife. If Cobb finds out I know. I helped him clear his name. I... his children aren't safe with him. He killed their mother." Ariadne was crying now.

"Ariadne." Arthur said more calmly. "Listen. I want you to stay here and don't talk to anyone. Don't make any plans to leave the city. Don't call Cobb or Eames. Understand?"

The Architect was nodding.

The Point Man wrapped his hands around her face and kissed her. His eyes lingering over hers for a moment longer then normal.

"I'll be back." He whispered.

"Are you going to talk to Cobb?" She whimpered.

"No, I'm going to talk to Eames and we're going to decide what we have to do." The Point Man said. "It's going to be alight. I promise."

~ Arthur left the trendy loft apartment and went back to his car. It was still raining and night was falling fast. He looked up at the building he had just left to see the pretty Architect was at her window, watching him.

He raised a hand to her before driving off.

~ Eames was watching TV in the warehouse. He hadn't given Ariadne or Arthur another thought. He chalked it up to a lover's quarrel that had nothing to do with him, and he could care less. Although it was fun to see them try and hide their feelings for each other.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and opened it without looking.  
"Find your girlfriend? What was wrong with her?" He said as a greeting.  
"Eames." Arthur growled on the other end. "I've got some bad news."

"What's that then?" Eames said casually.

"I just left Ariadne's place. We've got a bleed." Arthur said gravely.

~ Ariadne couldn't think about anything but what she had seen in the dream.

That elegant hotel room torn to pieces. Cobb shouting at Mal. It was so unlike Cobb to shout and use such brutal language on the pretty lady. She had peeped out of a dark hallway to spy on them. Cobb was hitting her over and over again. Accusing her of being a whore.

She was shouting back she had been seeing someone else, then Cobb lost all control and threw her out the window.

The Architect put on music and tried to ignore those thoughts that had seeped into her mind. The things she had seen in Cobb's memories were disturbing. Too disturbing. She had to get out of Paris. Had to sever all contact with Cobb. She couldn't be around a murderer.

She decided to ignore Arthur's instructions and grabbed her bug out bag Arthur told her to always keep packed. The nature of their work was dangerous, and he wanted her prepared with an ever ready overnight bag and everything she would need for a quick get away.

She wasn't sure where she was going, but she had to get away.

No one noticed the pretty Architect, under her umbrella, leaving the apartment building. She went to the nearby cafe to call for a taxi to take her to the airport. Deciding to leave her cell phone behind.

No one used pay phones in this city anymore, but there was an archaic rotary phone in the back of the cafe, near the bathrooms. With all the tourists, she and her bag slipped in unnoticed.

She barely got to the back of the cafe when the explosion happened.

The noise was deafening, and Ariadne had been to afraid to react at first. She was in a state of shock as class from the cafe window shattered and people were screaming.

The frighted patrons in the cafe were shouting and the running out onto the streets.

"What happened!" One woman was crying. "Was it terrorists?"

Ariadne rushed outside with the rest of the people to see her loft apartment had been the center of the blast and was now in flames. Had she not left a few moments ago, she would be dead.

**Just saw Tom Hardy in "Lawless". He was really good, but the movie wasn't as good as "Warrior". I'm just waiting for Tom to win his Oscar. **


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ "A bleed?" Cobb asked. "Are you sure?"

"She got some of our memories in the dream. She got lost and accidentally invaded our minds. She knew things about us." Arthur sighed. "She knew about a test I cheated on... other things I never told anyone."

"Like what?" Eames asked with a mischievous grin.

"Cobb," Arthur said stiffly. Not bothering to indulge in Eames' taunting. "Ariadne thinks she saw your memories. She thinks you really did kill Mal."

"What?" Cobb said. His handsome features pulling into a deep scowl.

"Some of what she saw was real, other things were way off base." The Point Man sighed. "It must have been the hallucinogen part of the compound. It made her mind conjure up these images. Not only does she think she saw Cobb killing Mal, but she thinks Eames is on the run from his own government. That I had to help him change his identity." Arthur explained.

"Our girl has watched too many spy movies." Eames laughed. "But I can see how she would think that. I do have a James Bond kind of thing working for me."

"That's not what we're worried about Eames." Cobb hissed. "Does Ariadne really believe I killed Mal?"

"Yes." Arthur sighed. "Some of our memories have bleed into her mind during the dream. But the majority of them were her own mind creating things that weren't real."

"I've seen it happen before." Eames offered. "A bleed is serious. She might start having hallucinations now. She might convince herself she's still dreaming and..." The forger trailed off and pointed a finger to his temple. Indicating a gun and he pulled the trigger.

"I left her alone back at her apartment." Arthur said in alarm. A worried expression on his face.  
"We need to get her. Take her back to a hospital and get her an anti psychotic." Eames told them as the three men left the work shop.

"Arthur?" Cobb asked.

The Point Man turned to his old friend.  
"How do you know I didn't really kill Mal?" The Extractor asked. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because after Mal's death, I went into your dreams and found out what really happened. I saw her commit suicide off that window ledge. I know you tried to talk her off." Arthur informed him.

Cobb leaned back. It was an unwritten law not to venture into another team members dreams to gain information.  
Arthur shrugged; unapologetic.

"I had to be sure." The Point Man said simply.

~ Outside Ariadne's apartment building stood a large crowd and fire trucks.

"What happened?" Eames asked a local who was appraising the scene.

"Gas line erupted. No big deal. Broke a few windows and scared everyone. That's about it. There was no fire, but they aren't taking any chances. I guess that's why the truck are here." The young man told the Forger.

The Point Man and Extractor went to Ariadne's apartment unseen. Her space looked just as clean and welcoming as it had just an hour before. Except there was not Ariadne.

"I told her to stay here, and I would come back." Arthur said. He was worried now about the fragile state of the Architect with Eames' warning about hallucinating.

"Ariadne?" Arthur shouted as he searched all over her loft. He even looked under the bed.

"She's not here, Arthur." Cobb said dryly.

"I told her to stay here." Arthur said feeling panicked now. "Where... Where could she have gone?"

"She didn't take her cell phone." The Extractor said picking up the slender smart phone that had been left on the coffee table.  
"She wouldn't leave without that phone." Arthur said taking it.

He went to her closet and searched for the overnight bag he knew she kept packed and ready.

"He bag's gone." Arthur said.

"Her emergency bag?" Cobb asked.  
"Yes. It'll have her passports, emergency money, everything." Arthur said. His head was spinning now as his worries over Ariadne were mounting.

"It hasn't been that long. She couldn't have gotten that far." Cobb assured him.

"The gas main exploded. It slowed us down getting here!" Arthur barked. "She's probably terrified. You heard what Eames said about hallucinations!"  
"The gas explosion slowed her down to. Her thinking is probably erratic. We have to focus on finding her now." Cobb said in a steady voice. "There is only so many places she could have run to."

Arthur was nodding.

"I'll call Miles. Maybe she made contact with him. You go and tell Eames what's happening." The Extractor told the Point Man.

"Arthur!" Cobb said snapping the Point Man back to attention. "We will find her."

~ Ariadne had fled the scene of her apartment being bombed as soon as the fire trucks had arrived. People around her said something about it only being a gas line and it was no big deal. How could they say that? A building was on fire. Yet, no one talked about it. No one even looked up at the flames licking the dark sky in the rain. It was like she was the only one who could see the explosion.

She wondered if Arthur had been the one to set off the bomb, or if Cobb was onto her. Perhaps even Eames had laced her home with C4, and when he learned that she knew about him, he blew her place up.

'_It's going to be alright._' She thought. '_They think I'm dead. I have more time now._'

Who should she call? Miles? She dismissed the idea right away. Miles and Cobb were close. Still, Miles was Mal's father. He needed to know the truth. Maybe he could help her.

But she didn't want to put the old man in danger with what she knew. She had to get away.

She wished she could call Arthur and tell him she was alight. But she couldn't be sure the Point Man didn't have a hand in blowing her apartment up.

The Architect ducked down a quite ally way. There was a forgotten inn which took cash and asked no questions. She would stay the night, and think better in the morning.

~ Ariadne had awful dreams. Like ghosts, they rose up from some horrible depths to grab her and she woke up too terrified to go back to sleep.

She dreamed they were chasing her. Cobb, Arthur and Eames. That they had grown claws and fangs and were hunting her down deserted streets with red, glowing eyes. She screamed for help, but the streets of Paris were empty. The men she trusted so much closing in, and she felt Arthur grab her.

She woke up in darkness and had to convince herself she was alone. For just a moment, she was sure she saw Arthur watching her from the shadows.

She clicked on her bedside lamp, the shape of what she thought was the Point Man, was nothing more then a curtain.

Sleep did not come easy for the rest of the night.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ When Ariadne finally did slip into dreamless sleep, she slept heavily and didn't wake till around noon. Her jaw hurt and she guessed she had been grinding her teeth all night from the nightmares.

She was so tired she could barely think strait. She dressed and counted the money she found in her bag.

'_Who put this money in here?_' She wondered and forgot about it right away.

She was suddenly scared as she remembered why she was in this hotel. Dom Cobb had murdered his wife. He tried to murder her for knowing about it.

What if Arthur and Eames were trying to help her? Should she call them? She wanted to trust the Forger and Point Man.

~ At a trendy cafe not far from her hotel, an unguarded cell phone was carelessly left on a table by a thoughtless young woman as she talked to a young man at another table.

No one saw the Architect swipe it and keep walking.

~ Arthur was in a terrible mood. He hadn't slept very well last night and his worries over the Architect were mounting. They had found no trace of Ariadne last night. She had called no one and there were no flights out of France with her passport. With any luck, she's might still be in Paris.

"Don't worry, hopefully, she'll get worried enough to contact us." Eames told the Point Man.

"She would have done it by now." Arthur grumbled back.

The words were no sooner out of his mouth when his cell phones buzzed noisily in his breast pocket.

He plucked the phone from his suit pocket and saw it was an unknown number. He thought about ignoring the call when his thumb rebelled against his brain and he answered it.

"Hello?" He said into the receiver.  
"Arthur?" Came Ariadne's worried voice.

"Ariadne? Where are you?" Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. "We went to your apartment and you weren't there."

"You were at my apartment? So you saw what happened?" Ariadne came back. Her voice shaky.

"Yes, there was gas line explosion, and you left your apartment. Are you alight? Why did you leave you cell phone behind?" Arthur asked as Cobb and Eames whispered for him to have Ariadne tell him where she was.

"A gas line explosion? Is that what Cobb made it look like?" Ariadne asked.

"What are you talking about?" Arthur asked.  
"My apartment! Cobb blew up my apartment! I saw it! As soon as I left my building, it blew up!" She cried into the phone.

"No, Ariadne." Arthur said trying to stay calm. "That's not what happened. You need to tell us where you are so we can help you."

"Were you involved?" She accused. "As soon as you left my place did you call them to blow up my apartment?"

"Ariadne." Arthur said soothingly. "You need to listen to me alright? There has been a mistake with the compound. You were exposed to some very powerful hallucinations while you were in the dream. You saw a few of our memories, but Cobb killing Mal wasn't one of them. Eames has never been on the run from his own government and you don't have to run now."

"You tried to kill me!" She cried.

"No."

"Yes you did! Don't tell me I didn't see it! I know what I saw!"

"You're hallucinating from the compound. Tell me where you are and I'll pick you up. I'll come alone-"

"No! You tried to kill me!"

The Point Man was about to say something when he felt the connection go dead.

Arthur tried to call the number back, but it went to voice mail after a few rings. Someone named Tiffany asking to leave a message.

"She thinks we tried to kill her. She thinks her apartment was blown up and they we're after her." Arthur explained to the curious looks of Eames and Cobb.

"Track the number she called you from." Cobb told him.

Arthur nodded and went to his work table.

"Hopefully, she'll keep it on her long enough for us to find her location." The Extractor added. "Eames, you've dealt with a bleed before, how bad is this?"

"Bad." Eames said soberly. "If we don't get her medicated soon, she could go insane. She'll have more hallucinations and more delusions of persecutions until no medication in the world will help her."

~ Ariadne couldn't seem to calm down. Arthur had so much as admitted to trying to kill her. What could she do? Who could she trust. She was certain they would be following her now. Every car that rolled down the street, every man walking behind her. She was certain was Arthur or Cobb.

She hid out for a while in the library and tried to think. She didn't know anyone who had the resources to hide her. Who knew about Cobb and their work. Then she blinked and realized that she did.

"Saito." She said aloud in the stillness of the library.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~The Architect hadn't given the businessman another thought since the Fischer inception. Mr. Saito had powerful connections and abilities. If anyone could hide her, it was him. Now, how to find him and convince him to help her.

Saito seemed to have no interest in the team or her since they landed in LAX a few months ago. She would have no way of contacting him.

In the end, she used a simple phone directory. She reached his secretary and told him her name and instead of her real last name, gave the name of Fischer. That she was a friend of Dom Cobb.

The secretary was polite, accommodating and told her Mr. Saito was a busy man.

Ariadne told her to give him the name and that it was an emergency. She left the number of the pay phone in the lobby, her instincts telling her to ditch the stolen cell phone right away, and waited.

She didn't have to wait long.

"I can fax you a copy of the non disclosure agreement." Saito growled over the line.  
"Saito?" Ariadne breathed in relief. She was overjoyed just to hear his voice again. A possible safe harbor in the storm.

"It specifically states you are not to contact me." The businessman went on.

"Saito, I'm sorry, but I need your help." She interrupted.

~ The Point Man drove restlessly down the streets where the Architect's stolen cell phone was last pinged. He had used all his contact information to try and find her. Keeping feelers out for her passports. He knew she was still in the city. He _felt_ she was still here. This place was her comfort zone and she would be reluctant to leave it.

He parked the luxurious car outside a library and watched the people. He was getting too tired to drive as the evening turned the city into a glittering dance of twinkling light. There were so many tourists on the streets, he almost didn't see the red jacket leaving a library and disappearing into the crowds.

No way the Point Man could be this lucky. The object of his pursuit so obviously oblivious to him as she walked quickly down the street.

Arthur jumped and put the car into gear, his heart beating wildly in his chest as she was so close. All he had to do was jump out of the car and approach her.

But then what? She wasn't in her right mind. She believed that he was apart of some conspiracy intent on killing her. The streets were too crowded. If he tried to grab her, it would call attention to him and the police would become involved. The team avoided law enforcement at all costs.

"Where are you going?" Arthur whispered as he watched his pretty Architect weave her way to a less crowded section.

Arthur broke off his pursuit in the car. There was less traffic here and she would notice. Instead, he gave her some distance and then started to pursue her on foot.

He was a few yards behind her when she went into a building and he was forced to follow.

The Architect so intent on her destination; she didn't notice the Point Man watching her take the elevator to the roof.

~ Saito's private helicopter was making a graceful landing just as she reached the rooftop of the building.

"You were lucky I was nearby." The businessman said with a self satisfied grin.

"Thank you!" Ariadne shouted over the noise of the propeller blades.

"Let's get inside the cabin!" Saito ordered.

She was nodding and feeling she might be safe for the first time in a long time when the roof top door banged opened and Arthur was running out.

~ The Point Man should have known this was going to happen. He worried for a moment she was going up to the roof to jump and was slightly grateful to see Saito's opulent corporate helicopter was there to pick his Architect up.

"Wait!" He shouted brandishing his side arm.

Saito looked to Ariadne who looked panicked. The businessman quickly shutting the chopper's door and telling the pilot to take off.

"Saito! Wait!" Arthur shouted as the chopper started to lift off into the night sky.

Just like that, she was gone.

Arthur had been so close to getting her back, only to have her vanish again.

~ The flight to Tokyo was long, but peaceful. Saito asked no questions and let her curl up, cat like, in the comfortable leather seats of the helicopter.

She was so tired of running. Of feeling eyes on her. She knew she was safe for the moment and allowed herself to sink into the peaceful oblivion of sleep.

~_ "No! Dom! DON'T!" Mal was screaming. _

"_You bitch!" The once kind Extractor was shouting. "I'll kill you! You dirty BITCH!"_

~ Ariadne woke to Saito nudging her awake.

"We're here." He said softly.

It was still night in Japan as the businessman took her down the elevator to his private penthouse.

"I've had my staff prepare a room for you." He said gently as the Architect seemed especially fragile. "But first, tell me why you think Mr. Cobb is guilty of murder."

"We were working on a job. I went into his mind, I saw it happen. He killed her." Ariadne said weakly.

Saito nodded but said nothing.

"We have to go to the police. We have to tell them what happened. Those children are in danger." Ariadne said feeling she couldn't stay awake another minute.

"Why don't you rest for now?" Saito said as he handed her over to the care of his housekeeper. A old, matronly lady who bowed politely and took her hand.

The housekeeper put her to bed as if she were a child and covered her up. She was a sleep and dreamed of people coming to grab her.

~ The businessman's phone had been vibrating in his breast pocket since they left Arthur on the rooftop in Paris. The young man who served on point had impressed Saito enormously, and he found Arthur's tenacity even more admirable.  
"Saito." The businessman said lazily into his phone.  
"Is Ariadne alright?" Arthur barked.

Saito felt himself smile.

'_Young love._' He thought happily._ 'So marvelous.'_

"She is quite well." The businessman said.

"Where is she?" Arthur demanded.

"Here in Tokyo. At my penthouse. Don't worry, I have my housekeeper looking after her." He told the Point Man.

"Saito, listen." Arthur sighed over the other end of the line. "A situation has come up. We need to see Ariadne."

"And kill her? Because she thinks you are trying to do her great harm." Saito said tormentingly.

"Mr. Saito." Arthur growled.

The businessman smiled again.

"Ariadne was exposed to a powerful hallucinogen in the compound a few days ago. She's psychotic." Arthur told him. "We need to get her treatment as soon as possible."

"She seemed perfectly lucid to me." Saito countered. "Maybe she really is in danger for you and your associates."

"I would never hurt her." Arthur said stiffly.

"Certainly." Saito laughed. "But in the meantime, Ariadne stays with me until I am sure she will be safe."

"Saito, listen to me. She needs help. She doesn't have much time!" Arthur was shouting now.

Saito disconnected the call and turned the phone off. He knew the Point Man would call him back all night trying to get through.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

~ The feeling of safety was short lived for the Architect. Nightmares tore her awake after a few hours.

She woke and found she was in a strange room with no memory of how she got there. Wandering the halls only led her to feeling more confused as she was greeted with an impossible and unfamiliar skyline at an impressive window.  
"Ariadne?" Came a voice behind her.

She jumped and turned to see Saito standing there. The businessman looking pristine as always even though it was obviously early morning.  
"Mr. Saito?" She whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my home in Tokyo. You asked me to come and get you last night." He explained. "Are you hungry? I've had my cook prepare you something to eat."

"Where am I? Why did you come and get me?" She asked feeling confused.

Saito sighed deeply.

"Please have something to eat. You will feel better." He said.

~ Saito was accommodating to his guest. He had his cook prepare her a traditional French breakfast of strong coffee and a light pastry dish with fruit. Ariadne savored the warm bread as her nerves calmed down.

"What happened?" She asked the businessman as he drank black coffee.

"You were convinced you were in danger." Saito said blandly. He looked over his news paper and seemed rather bored.

"Danger?" Ariadne asked.  
"Yes. You called me up and were convinced Mr. Cobb and his associates were attempting to kill you." Saito told her.

Ariadne nodded. A vague memory, like a small spark of light went off in her mind. Then like a single candle, the memory roared into a fire.

"Saito! Cobb killed Mal! He did it! I saw in his memory he killed her. When I told Arthur, he blew up my apartment! I know things about him and Eames to. Their dangerous." Ariadne pleaded suddenly.

"They _are_ dangerous. That is true. But they are not dangerous to you." Saito told her lazily.

He waived a hand to his butler. The uncomfortable looking man came to stand by him and presented Saito with a stylish laptop computer.

The businessman engaged a program and a video appeared on screen.  
Saito barked at the video in his native language. A man appeared on screen. Saito barked at the man again and a French news paper was help up to the camera for Saito and Ariadne to see.

"This is a live feed from Paris. My associate is in your neighborhood. See the date?" Saito told her.

Ariadne looked at the paper and saw the date was correct.

Saito barked at the man on camera again.

"This is you apartment. The one you said was blown up." Saito told her.

Ariadne watched in disbelief as the camera rolled over her neighborhood and up to her loft apartment. Her windows were not blown out, no evidence of a fire was there. The building looked perfect in every detail.  
"I don't understand. I saw the explosion." Ariadne whispered.

"Arthur has suggested you were hallucinating." Saito told her as he cut off the video feed.

"You talked to Arthur?" She breathed. Her eyes widening.

"He called me, yes." Saito told her.  
"I know what I saw!" Ariadne cried. "I didn't imagine it!"

"Then explain how your apartment is still there." Saito told her.

She thought back. Her memories and thinking; slow and stupid.

"I... I can't." She admitted. "But I saw Cobb murder his wife. I was in his mind and I saw it!" She insisted.

Saito didn't argue. He didn't need to. He opened a program on his computer and played a security video.  
"I own the building opposite where her suicide happened. My security cameras captured this. It's what I used as evidence to clear Mr. Cobb's name." The businessman said.

Ariadne watched a grainy rooftop video of a woman sitting out of a window. She was perched carelessly close to the edge of a very steep and unforgiving drop.

After a few seconds, Cobb appeared. There was no audio and she watched them talking for a few moments before Cobb was waving his hands and obviously yelling. Mal's face looked serene and perfectly calm before she let herself fall off the ledge.

"Oh!" Ariadne gasped at the horror of it. The camera capturing her hitting the ground below as Cobb was visibly upset and crying.

"Video does not lie." Saito said softly. "It is not like memories. It does not fade or change with time."

"No. I don't understand." Ariadne whimpered.

"Arthur seems to think you were exposed to a high dosage of the hallucinogen in the compound. It caused you to imagine things that were not real."

"It _was_ real!" Ariadne shouted and stood up.

She was feeling panicked now.

Saito seemed unimpressed.

"Pleas sit down." he said calmly.

"I know he killed her. I saw it!" She protested.

"The mind can play powerful ticks on an person. In your line of work, you know that better then anyone." Saito insisted.

"No!" Ariadne almost shouted.

The butler came back into the dinning room and whispered in Saito's ear. The businessman nodded and spoke back in Japanese as Ariadne stood there.

Saito stood and offered his arm to his guest.

"Please, come with me. I have more to show you." He said.

~ Trustingly, Ariadne allowed Saito to take her to a small, elegant parlor room. There, stood a man in a white coat. An obvious doctor. Beside him, stood Arthur, Cobb and Eames.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ Instinctively, Ariadne took a step back and ran into Saito.

"They're here to help you." Her host told her as Arthur stepped hesitantly towards her.  
"Ariadne?" The Point Man said hopefully. "You have to listen to me. You're not well."

"Saito?" She whimpered as the doctor was preparing an injection.

"You need to trust them." The businessman said in a voice that was almost kind.

"No." She said as the gravity of what was about to happen, hit her.

She would be drugged and taken somewhere where no one would find her. No one would know the truth.

"Ariadne, all that you've been seeing was just hallucinations brought on by the compound." Cobb said in his wise, patient voice.

"I saw you kill, Mal! I was in your memory!" Ariadne shouted as her team slowly crept towards her. She could feel Saito encircle his hands around her wrists as she tried to get away.

"Let go of me! No!" She cried as Arthur was helping the businessman to hold her down.

Eames was controlling her kicking legs as the doctor advanced and gave her the hypodermic shot in the hip.

"It's an antipsychotic, it will sedate her for a few hours. Hopefully it's not too late." The doctor said as she felt her world slip away.

~ She dreamed of dark hallway and things that grew teeth. She dreamed of Mal screaming, and creatures that lurked in darkness.

~ "Arthur?" She croaked as she opened her eyes the next morning.

The Point Man had stayed with her all night. Sleeping on an uncomfortable chair so that she wouldn't wake up alone. Morning was crowning early, and dawn had started to invade her window.

"Hey, look who's awake." Arthur said with a rare smile. "You were asleep for a long time."

Her body was tired and weak as she rolled over in her bed.

"What happened?" She asked as she felt the effects of a really bad hangover.  
"You tell me." Arthur said.

Ariadne had to think.

"I was running. I... I wasn't thinking right." Ariadne said as she tried to remember the past few days.

"Do you remember why you were running?" Arthur asked.

"I thought I was in danger. I thought Cobb killed Mal." Ariadne whispered as she felt a tear running down her cheek.

"Did he?" Arthur asked.

"No." Ariadne said simply. "No, he didn't. Saito showed me a video."

"Do you think he killed anyone?" Arthur asked her.

She fought a wave of emotion as she looked at the Point Man.

"Arthur, what happened to me?" She asked.

He sighed and took her hand.  
"We call it a bleed." Arthur said. "It's very rare, but it happens sometimes when the hallucinate part of the compound is too strong. Sometimes you invade a memory, but most times you mind just plays tricks on you."

Ariadne nodded.  
"I thought my apartment was blown up but it wasn't." Ariadne said feeling ashamed of herself.

Arthur nodded.  
"We have a doctor here, he's going to be monitoring you. It's a good thing we got to you in time." Arthur said. "Otherwise there would have been no going back."

Ariadne sniffed back a shameful sob.

"I'm sorry, Arthur. I should have trusted you." She said as he moved closer to her.

She leaned on his shoulder and he let her collect herself.

"Are you hungry? Cobb and Eames are about to have breakfast right now. I know they would want to see you." Arthur offered.

She shook her head.

"I can't face them." She whispered. "It's so embarrassing."

"What? That you wanted to protect his children from a possible murder? Because Cobb needs more friends like that." Arthur offered.

~ She let Arthur guide her out of the guest room and into the kitchen.

She had to swallow the irrational dread she felt at seeing Eames and Cobb waiting for her. The embarrassment outweighed the fear however.  
"Cobb, I'm so sorry." Ariadne whispered.

The Extractor smiled.

"It's me who should be apologizing to you." Cobb said sadly. "I should have protected you better from the compound. All the dangers."

"You sure you're alright?" Eames asked worriedly.

"Yes." Ariadne tried to laugh as she looked at the food spread out on the kitchen counter. "It looks good." She nodded to the buffet.

"Well, grab a plate and join us." Eames said as she felt Arthur kiss her temple and join the other men at a little table to eat.

She smiled to herself and shakily picked up a plate. Her eyes finding the large carving knife negligently left on the table.

No one saw her pick it up. There backs were to her as they talked about the flight out of Japan, the weather and going back to Paris.

She pretended to return to the table to eat. Giving Arthur a smile just before she stabbed Cobb in the neck.

~ Ariadne was sketching. The doctors let her have her sketch pad and crayons. No pencils or pens. But she found she could create very pretty art work with her limited supplies.

She didn't have such a bad life here. She was given a private room, with no roommate to bother her. Aside from the nursing staff and group therapy, this place was a bit like a hotel.

She wasn't sure why she was here, or when she would be leaving. All she knew was that she was safe.

"Ariadne?" a nurse said and she looked up to see Eames.

It was always a great shock to see the Forger appear like he did. The nurse looked worried as she asked the Architect if it was okay to have her visitor.  
"Don't go far." She whispered to the nurse. "I'll send you a signal if I need help."

The nurse looked at her sadly and nodded.  
"Hello, Ariadne." Eames said as he sat a good seven feet away from her. "You're drawing more, I see."

"They won't let me have any pencils or pens. I can't do too much for this job we're working on without the right tools." She complained petulantly as she returned to her coloring.

"Well, they're still lovely." Eames told her.

She shrugged off the compliment.

"What are you doing here? Did Cobb send you? Making sure I don't talk?" Ariadne snapped at him angrily.

"No." Eames said sadly. "No, Cobb didn't send me."

She nodded.

"Because I told them everything about you, Mr. Eames. How that's not even your real name. About how Arthur was a spy too, and how all of you have been putting micro chips into people's heads." Ariadne ranted as her drawings became more erratic.

"Ariadne, I've told you that's not true." Eames said patiently.

"Why didn't Arthur come? He used to come and spy on me." Ariadne said after a while.

"He doesn't like to see you like this." Eames told her.

She shook her head and tired to ignore him.

"I keep asking when I'll be getting out of here. I'm sick of being here. When is Arthur coming to get me?" Ariadne asked.

Eames let out a long sigh.

"I just want to go home." she told him.

~ Arthur waited in the car.

When they first admitted Ariadne to this place, it seemed like it would be perfect for her. She responded favorably to all the medications and the doctors were optimistic about her recovery. But then she started having delusions of persecutions again.

She would be violent to him when he visited and screamed that he had drilled holes in her teeth to plant listening devices.

He couldn't take seeing her fall apart like this. It hurt too much.

He looked at his reflection in the vanity mirror. A poorly healed scar wrapped around his neck to his cheek. A souvenir of Ariadne's attack that day.

She had stabbed Cobb in the throat and the Extractor bled out on the floor before help could arrive. Eames and Arthur were too shocked to stop her, and when they did, Arthur earned the large wound to the neck that could have killed him.

Luckily, Eames was quick and forceful enough to take her down before she had the chance to kill him.

He supposed he could have plastic surgery to hide the scar, but it felt like it was a penance he had to pay right now. He had let her down and he had to make atonement for it.

She never came back from the bleed. Her mind had been allowed to grow wild for too long before they got her help.

She couldn't come back.

She would spend the rest of her life in this mental hospital. They called it a care ward, but it was a nut house. No matter how nice it was with her private room, play therapy rooms and gardens, it was a nut house.

~ Arthur spotted Eames coming back from the visitors section of the care ward. The Forger got into the car and said nothing. Arthur started the engine and waited for Eames' report.  
"She looks good. Not better, but she looks alright. Asked about you. Wondered why you don't see her anymore." Eames said as he handed Arthur a drawing. "She wanted you to have that."

The Point Man sighed and looked over the beautiful 3D maze that was done in brown and red crayon. He would put it in the scrapbook with the others.

"What did you say?" Arthur asked sadly.

"That you were away. She wants to go home, but she still thinks we're out to hurt her." Eames said.

"Did you drop off the bags at the nurses station? Because otherwise she'll think those things were bugged. If she knows they came from me." Arthur told him.  
"I gave them to the charge nurse. Coloring books, crayons. New clothes and shoes. Even the Little Debbie snack cakes she loves." Eames said.

Arthur nodded.

"You intend to do this every month? Send me in there to check on her? Sneak in things for her so it won't be so bad?" Eames accused as Arthur drove away from the care ward.  
"I can't go in. I can't see her like that." Arthur grumbled. "She hates me, remember?"

Arthur caught a reflection of Ariadne's home in the side mirror before they left. His heart hurting with the knowledge she would be there forever.

**~ END ~**

**So sorry this took so long to finish! I got caught up in writing "The Convenient Wife" and it wouldn't let me go!**


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